Spacing-machine



PATENT Fries.

HENRY R. BARNHURST, OF ERIE, PENNSYLVANIA.

SPACING- MACHINE.

sPECIPICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 392,25e, dated November 6, 1888.

- Application filed August 14, 1888. Serial No. 282,706. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, HENRY R. BARNHURST, a citizen of the United States, residing at Erie, in the county of Erie and State of Penn; sylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Spacing-Machines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear,

and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to spacing-machines; and it consists in certain improvements in the construction and operation thereof, as will be hereinafter fully sct forth, and pointed out in the claims.

The invention hereinafter described may be applied to many types of spacing-machines. The machine here illustrated is intended for use in boiler-shops and like places as a plateearriage or feed-table for a punching-machine.

The object of the application of my invention to such a machine is to so feed a plate of iron to the punching-machine that any given number of holes may be made in any given distance, and all the holes be the same distance apart without any previous spacing or marking of the plate. Machines for this purpose have been heretofore made-as, for instance, see Patent No. 343,842, dated June 15, 1886.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings as follows, the punching-niachine not being shown.

Figure 1 is a side elevation. Fig. 2 is a plan or top view. Fig. 3 is a transverse section on the lines or w in Figs. 1 and 2. Fig. 4c is a sectional view taken on the line 2 z in Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a section on the line y y in Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is an elevation of the operating-gearing at the left of Figs. 1 and 2.

Letters of reference indicate A is the bed-frame.

B is the carriage.

a a a are rollers on which the carriage moves.

1) b are tracks of the carriage, which run upon the rollers a.

B is that part of the carriage on which are placed part of the adjusting devices, and which is not occupied by the plate to be punched.

O is a screw by which the carriage is moved.

A and A are that part of the frame-work Which supports the propelling-screw.

parts as follows:

C O O are the gearing for operating the screw.

E is the nut on the screw 0. Dis a radiusbar carrying the nut E.

Other letters of reference will be referred to in place in the description.

As my invention relates only to the feeding mechanism, and as the construction of the carriage may be greatly varied, and is entirely immaterial, no description thereof will be given.

The propelling-screw O is set at an angle to the traverse of the carriage, and it is adapted to be revolved by thegearing C 0" 0 of which the gears O. and G are made interchangeable with others of varying size, so that the amount of movement of the screw from one revolution of the hand-wheel C may be varied at will. In fact, several sets of gears C C will be pro vided with each machine, as is common in the feed mechanism of many kinds of machines. On the hand-wheel 0 there is a stoppin, c, and on the frame-work A there is a stop-le- Ver, 0. The operator can turn the handwheel one or more revolutions and stop it by the stop-lever always at the same place.

The nut E is swivelcd in a block, E, which is adapted to slide in a way in the radius-bar D. The radiusbar D is pivoted at d, and at its free end it'has a clamping device consisting of the hand-nut d, and screw (1, by which it can be clamped to the table B at any point. The screw d is the stem of a yoked, which embraces a nut, d, which is on a screw, d, which has an operating hand-wheel, (1. 3y turning the screw (1", the clamp d at" being loosened, the radius-bar D can be moved to any point in its arc of movement desired. On the bar D there is a pointer, I, and on the table 13 there is a graduated scale, I. By this device the operator can set the radius bar at any determined angle to the screw 0. The screw 0 being at an oblique angle to the traverse of the carriage, the block E,carrying the nut, will move along the radius-bar D as the nut moves along the screw 0.

It will be seen that when the radius-bar is adjusted at a certain angle to the screw C as, for instance, at the point l-a revolution of the screw will move the carriage farther than when the bar D is adjusted at any other point,

and that when adjusted at the point 2 the travel will be considerably lessened. The object of this movable radius-loar D and the means for its adjustment is to provide for such minute divisions as cannot be eficcted by changing the gears G G", and also to avoid the necessity of having so many different sets of these gears as would be required if they alone were depended upon to change the feed of the screw 0.

As now built by me, the index of the machine will read for a variation of one sixthousandth of the distance traversed by the table, and, if necessary, could, by means of finer divisions, be increased to one twelvethousandth of the distance, so that in spacing a plate of ordinary length-say twenty feetthe index selected for the work to be done would not vary from absolutely perfect pitch more than one-half of this, or twenty feet di' vided by twenty-four thousand, which would equal .01 ofan inch total variation between extreme holes. As a matter of practice, how ever, it is perfectly practicable to use such to tal lengths of plate as will give a perfect multiple of a predetermined pitch.

To facilitate the work, a chart exhibiting in decimals the correct pitch obtained by each gear at each subdivision of the index accompanics each machine, and the operator,knowing the distance between his extreme holes and the number of holes, by simple division ascertains the pitch required, and by refer ence to this chart secs at a glance the gears and index-number which will give him that pitch, or one so closely approximate thereto that the variation, as explained above, is practically of no account in actual work of boiler-making. The plate being held firmly to the table, the spacing must beaccuratc-lar more so than if the sheet were spaced off by dividers, then priclepunched, and the heavy sheet guided by hand under the punch while the operators sight the punch to theprickmarks.

The operation of my device is as follows: The operator has upon the bed B a plate to be punched, having a given distance between the first and last holes,and he desires to punch a given number of holes between the first and last holes and have all the holes evenly spaced. I'Ie selects and puts on asetofgears, C C", which will give to the screw such a movement that one, two, or more revolutions ofthc hand-wheel C" will, with the bar D at the point lwhich I call the normal pointgive to the carriage a movement nearest approximating the length of space required between the holes. He then sets the bar D so as to give the exact movement desired. This being determiued, one hole is punched in the startingcorner at the proper distance from the end of the sheet, the hand-wheel is brought to its starting-point, and the sheet clamped down. The punching is then done, one operator controlling the action of the punch, the other turning the hand-wheel one or more complete revolutions to the starting and stopping point, where it is detained by the spring-lever c during the periods that the punch is passing through the plate.

It will be noted that this table and spacing mechanism is operative equally well in either direction, that a plate may be punched starting from either end, and that the necessity of returning the carriage to a definite startingpoint in its travel is obviated. This is of special service in punching for double lines of riveting. The plate may be punched with one row of holes, then moved so that the punch starts correctly for the second row of holes, and then by turning the wheel 0" backward it will run in the reverse direction and punch the second row of holes.

\Vhat I claim as new is- 1. In a spacing-machine, the combination, substantially as set forth, of a movable carriage, a screw for moving said earriage,which lies diagonal to the track of said carriage, an adjustable radius-bar on said carriage, a sliding block on said radius-bar, and aunt on said screw. which is pivoted to said sliding block.

2. in a s 'iacing-machine, the combination, substantially as set forth, of a movable carriage, a screw for moving said carriage, which lies diagonal to the track of said carriage, a radius-bar, D, on said carriage, pivoted at d, and provided at its free end with means for adjusting the same at varying angles to the said screw, and a nut, E, on said screw, which is swiveled to a block, E, which slides upon said bar D.

3. In a spacing-machine, the combination, substantially as set forth, of a movable carriage, a screw for moving said carriage, which lies diagonal to the track of said carriage, a hand-wheel and gearing for operating said screw, an adjustable radius-bar on said carriage, which lies transverse to the said screw, a screw for adjusting said radius bar, an index and scale for regulating the adjustment of said bar, a block sliding lengthwise of said bar,and a nut on said carriage-actuating screw, which is swiveled in said sliding block.

In testimony whereofI affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

IIEYRY R. BARNH URS'I.

\Vitnesses:

J NO. K. IIALLOCK, WM. P. I'IAYES. 

